Whoooo boy! That hat sure do trigger some folks! Some news from academia: In early April, Ellen Currano got an email from the University of Wyoming’s marketing department asking if she’d appear in a promotional video for a newly proposed marketing campaign. She was surprised, then angry. It wasn’t the idea of being in a promotional video that … [Read more...]
The Cult Of Wynonna Earp
I haven't seen this show. I don’t know that I ever will see this show. But I absolutely love that the Weird Western Wynonna Earp is a cult hit with a passionate fan base. The New York Times has a feature on the phenomenon, which bodes very well for all of us toiling in our little niches, who do what we do for the love of it — and simply seek to … [Read more...]
Dia del Soldado
Ask me for a sequel that’s as good as the original that inspired it and I’ll give you The Godfather: Part II. That’s about the only one I can think of. Creating a good sequel is a damned hard thing to accomplish. You’ve got to deliver something fresh and engaging while retaining the elements of the original that captured an audience to begin … [Read more...]
Working The Trapline — July 2018
I’ve waded into the jungle swinging a machete, clearing my path toward the next book. Working title is Cowboy Revolutionaries: Rough Ride Into The 20th Century. The structure will be based around understanding the conflicts in the Caribbean, Central America and Southeast Asia as “wars of frontier and empire” that persisted from the … [Read more...]
Blaze
“I don’t want to be a star. I wants to be a legend.” — Blaze Foley There was a time when I bought heavily into the whole drunken wildman outlaw poet mystique. Live fast, die young, be a legend. Jim Morrison, Gram Parsons, Hank Williams, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, Steve Earle, Shane McGowan, Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt — hell, throw in … [Read more...]
Plunging Into Chaos
Ceili came home from the University of Oregon with high marks, a year of tremendous growth under her belt — and a nasty cold. The cold put a spanner in the works of our Father’s Day plans, which included a seven-mile hike. She just wasn’t up for it. In fact, she wasn’t up for much more than curling up on the couch with a mug of tea. So, we … [Read more...]
Nude Queen Of The Communist Cannibals!
Like the Steve Earle song says, I’m looking for a woman. I know she’s out there — ageless and deathless, an ever-present peril to be faced down by good, old-fashioned red-blood American manhood. Yes, I’m talking about the Nude Queen of the Communist Cannibals! See, this is the danger of stalking down the mysterious jungle paths of the … [Read more...]
Getting It Right
Daughter Ceili scouted out a production still from the forthcoming Outlander, Season 4. The season takes Jamie and Claire Fraser to the North Carolina backcountry, where they establish themselves not far from Daniel Boone’s stomping grounds, at a place they name Fraser’s Ridge. I have not read Drums of Autumn, upon which the season is based, but my … [Read more...]
Cowboy Revolutionaries And A Hair Trigger Heart
“Cowboys we are, and cowboys we shall be.” — Gen. Francisco “Pancho” Villa to Gen. Felipe Angeles, Chihuahua, Mexico, 1918 Sometimes the Muse gives you exactly what you’re looking for, though you didn’t really know you were looking for it. I’ve been struggling a bit with focus and direction lately. In part this is due to increased … [Read more...]
Barbecue Guns
Clint Peoples was a real-deal lawman of the old school. The same school Frank Hamer matriculated from a few years before. A Texas Ranger and U.S. Marshal, Peoples knew his duty and he did it. In true Texas Ranger style, when he got on a trail, he stayed on it — even if it took 23 years and led to a President of the United States. It’s a helluva … [Read more...]
